KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Three Women from Afghanistan – an athlete, a singer, and a media and education entrepreneur – have been featured in the BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women of 2024.
Every year, the BBC publishes a list of the 100 most inspiring and influential women from around the world, such as artists, singers, leaders, activists, and notable figures.
Zakia Khudadadi, an athlete and medalist at the 2024 Paralympic Games; Elaha Soroor, a singer and composer; and Hamida Aman, a media and education entrepreneur, are featured in the BBC’s 100 Women list for 2024.
Zakia, born without one forearm in Afghanistan, made history at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games by winning a bronze medal for the refugee team, becoming the first athlete from both the refugee team and Afghanistan to earn a medal in the Paralympic Games.
The athlete, who fled Afghanistan for France after the Taliban takeover, also won a taekwondo gold medal at the 2023 European Para Championships in the Netherlands.
“My journey to the Olympic medal speaks of the power of resilience of Afghan women, of refugee women, of every woman. By not giving up, we continue to show there is nothing a woman cannot do,” Zakia told the BBC.
The other woman from Afghanistan on the list is Elaha Soroor, a singer and award-winning artist, who, as BBC mentioned, has used her platform to advocate for women’s rights.
“At a time when the voices of women in Afghanistan are being erased from public life, singer Elaha Soroor wrote the anthem Naan, Kar, Azadi! (Bread, Work, Freedom!) to counter this suppression and send a message of encouragement,” the BBC wrote.
Elaha was a participant on Afghan Star, a popular talent show in Afghanistan, in 2009. According to the BBC, she was forced to leave the country in 2010 due to violent backlash for pursuing a music career.
Hamida Arman, a media and education entrepreneur known for her activism and dedication to women and girls’ right to education in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, is also featured in BBC’s 2024 list.
According to the BBC, Hamida’s educational platform, Begum Academy, which offers free online multimedia courses for girls, has provided over 8,500 videos in both Dari and Pashto, covering school curricula for grades seven to 12.
She has also launched Begum TV, an educational channel broadcasting Begum Academy courses via satellite. “The service followed her Radio Begum project, a station made by women and for women, which was created after the Taliban takeover in 2021,” according to the BBC.
This comes at a time when women and girls in Afghanistan, under Taliban rule, face unprecedented oppression, described by UN experts, rights groups, and activists as “gender apartheid.”
In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, women and girls are not allowed to attend school beyond sixth grade, enroll in universities, work in most sectors, travel without a male guardian, participate in sports, sing, or engage in dozens of other activities, effectively erasing them from public life.
